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Prep roundup: Thompson Valley, Loveland swimming win invite titles

Late track: Eagles move up state charts

By Sports Staff

Posted:
04/27/2013 07:29:31 PM MDT

Swimming

Mountain View Invitational

A night after being flat in a dual loss to Broomfield, Thompson Valley High School's boy's swim team came back strong to win the event, scoring 451 points to top Greeley West (434). The host Mountain Lions were fifth at 251.

What pleased TVHS coach Dale Leonhart most was seeing big drops for his second line, as Alec Britt, Braden Eidem, Caleb Hammel and Jon Schlagel all had big days with time drops, showing Leonhart promise for the Northern Conference meet.

"We're pretty thin, you know. We don't have depth we've had in past, but I'm hopeful we'll be able to carry the day," he said. "Every team has their studs, it's whether or not we have enough juice in our second, third fourth line to get the job done. I'm pleased as punch with what we've shown. It was our third meet of the week."

Jake von der Lippe hit a state cut in the 100 backstroke, joining Jack Thorne as the Eagles to qualify in every event this season. Thorne won the 500 free with a 4:50.78, the 200 IM at 2:01.93 and helped the 200 medley team open the meet with a winning time of 1:44.35.

Mountain View coach Maria Strait was pleased to see her swimmers dropping time in their last meet before conference, some as much as 5 seconds in the 50 freestyle. The results are leading her down the tough path of figuring out where to place people in events so some can go for state cuts while balancing team totals. Nick Rubba had the Lions' only individual win, going 58.37 in the 100 butterfly.

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"All of my boys put up best times," she said. "For me, I loaded my 200 free relay and they went 5 seconds faster, so that's good. They see the record is 1:31 and that's in sight, so they're excited about that now. It's about figuring out what we're gong to do in the next two weeks, where we'll put kids for conference and try to find places to put kids to get state cuts."

Mountain Range Invitational

Ethan McNally
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Steve Stoner
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THORNTON -- Loveland coach Jim Nickell set up a different set of numbers for his team to attain Saturday, keeping in stride with the team motto that everybody matters. He issued point totals for heat finishes -- 1 for 1-3, 0 for 4-6, -1 for 7-10. The goal for the Indians was 10 points or better and breakfast burritos were on him for Tuesday's morning workout.

"They ended the meet with 12 points, so now I have to get 23 breakfast burritos," Nickell said. "Wanted to do something fun and have a challenge, and when you score a meet like that, they were more concerned for points for burritos than the fact we double the next team."

The Indians scored 375 on the board, easily ahead of Cherokee Trail at 185. It started off with a strong win in the 200-yard medley relay (1:37.37), and continued through as Ethan McNally posted a 59.3 in the 100 breaststroke. It's a swim Nickell said should have the senior thinking he can be the guy in the race behind teammate and defending state champ Nick Hatanaka the final weekend. Ryan Ball won the 200 individual medley (with McNally second) and 100 backstroke, Pat Jones won the 500 free and the Indians completed a clean sweep of the relays.

Late Track

Coronado Classic

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Thompson Valley High School's track team hit the Coronado Classic on Friday with a plan in place, and the Eagles came out with a lot of goals marked off the checklist as they moved into state-qualifying position or moved up the ladder.

"We had a great day," TVHS coach Matt Norton said, the girls team finishing third and the boys tied for fourth. "We talked this week to the kids about trying to spend the next two weeks ending with St. Vrain to take care of as many of our state-qualifying needs as possible so we could go into conference and focus on beating people."

Sam Baca broke his school record in the shot put with a throw of 52-2.5 and was strong in the discus (149-4.5, fourth) for a third meet in a row, putting him near the top of the charts in his events. The boy's 3,200 relay of Lucas Dominguez, Daniel Bloom, Caleb Simington and Daniel Lara posted the top time in Class 4A and Norton says there is still room for improvement. Andrew Bradberry moved into state talk in the 100 meters, and also helped the 800 relay improve its standing.

For the girls, the relays took center stage, with the 800 medley (1:48.10), 800 (1:44.10) and 1,600 (3:58.77) relays posting the best times in 4A to date, with Carly Feuerstein, Kenzie Craig, Lindsey Kroboth, Megan Irvine, Kelsi Schuetz and Maren Janda all involved.

"Megan was exceptional," Norton said. "She also ran on the 400 relay, and she looked like she did last year in the sense of anchoring a relay. We're hard to beat with her anchoring."

Norton was also pleased with the improvement of hurdler Nicole Krug, Tina Maas, Evan Rudolph and Tanner Wall on the day.

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